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Leadership Programs

Through its academic mission, community programs and leadership-related research, the Leadership Development Office is dedicated to implementing the Claflin imperative: preparing students for leadership and service in a multicultural, global and technological society.

Leading, Achieving & Serving

Leadership development has always been an essential part of Claflin's mission. Claflin graduates include such prominent leaders as the first African-American Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court, three bishops of the United Methodist Church, and the University's current president, Dr. Henry N. Tisdale. Indeed, since its founding more than 140 years ago, Claflin has produced service-oriented citizen-leaders in dozens of professions, including law, medicine, education, social work and the arts.Claflin's Leadership Development Office was created to coordinate the University's various leadership programs. Claflin is an Institutional member of the International Leadership Association (ILA). The Office operates in three major domains: academic, community service and research.

Academics

As part of its Leadership Development Program, the Office offers an 18-credit minor in Leadership Studies. Students are assisted with undergraduate research internship, UNCF and other scholarships.

Community service

The Office sponsors and coordinates student and community programs and activities designed to enhance leadership and service awareness, skills and experiences.

Alpha Kappa Mu National Honor Society (Alpha Theta Chapter)

Alpha Kappa Mu is a National Honor Society open to juniors and seniors in all academic areas. Alpha Kappa Mu was founded in November 1937 at Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee, and it is the only National Honor Society on campus.Our purpose is to promote high scholarship; to encourage sincere and zealous endeavor in all fields of knowledge and service; to cultivate a high order of personal living; and to develop an appreciation for scholarship and scholarly endeavor in others. All applications can be completed online or picked up from the Leadership Development Center.

Emerging Leaders

The Office assists in the planning and conducting of the annual Emerging Leaders Workshop, a three-day intensive engagement of students and faculty representatives from historically black colleges and universities in discussions and experiential learning about successful entry into graduate and professional schools, and into corporate America.

Research

The Center encourages faculty members and students to identify and pursue research topics that contribute to a better understanding of contemporary leadership, particularly among African-Americans.

The Leadership Alliance

Claflin is a founding member of the Leadership Alliance, an academic consortium of 31 institutions of higher learning, including nationally recognized research universities Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton and Cornell, among others, and leading HBCUs. Alliance members are committed to reversing the under representation of African-Americans and other minority students in the ranks of the nation's academic and research professionals.
Claflin's membership in the Leadership Alliance provides students at the University with numerous internship and professional opportunities.